Legacy Magazine

By Julia Pinnix

Looking for a new way to approach training interpreters? Try a “layered walk.”

Demonstrations are an excellent way to involve visitors and trainees alike. Choose a spot where folks can linger, like this bench in the woods, where a flint knapper prepared his display.

As interpreters, we’re supposed to consider who our audience is and tailor our approach. Interpreters-in-training are a special kind of audience. Many of us are hands-on, big-picture people who like to be active and learn best by doing and seeing. I’ve attended countless trainings for interpreters that are strictly lecture format—I’ve even, forgive me, set up trainings that way myself. Here’s a way to rip yourself out of that mode and get people really involved in learning the art of interpretation.

My goal was to come up with a training activity that accomplished multiple objectives: show people new to the area what a popular part of the park looks like, show a variety of different ways to engage visitors through informal interpretive techniques, show some ways of dealing with common problems encountered while roving, and provide area-specific information they could use. I picked a short trail often recommended to visitors and recruited fellow staff to make presentations.

Each staff person was assigned an interpretive technique or situation. They were stationed along the trail, ready to encounter groups of trainees (as well as the public). I divided the trainees into three smaller groups, assigning two people in each group to wear bandanas around their arms to identify them as “children.” This would allow staff to tailor their choices of techniques to either kids or adults during encounters. The group set off at staggered intervals, so they wouldn’t bunch up or run into one another.

We began the walk with a lesson in coping with dogs on trails. In this particular park, dogs aren’t allowed to walk trails, even on leashes, and the issue is one that comes up frequently for all park employees. I was the staff person for this encounter session, and had recruited a volunteer and his service dog to play the part of a visitor. As the first group approached, accompanied by the dog and its owner, I stepped forward and greeted them, and demonstrated how to cope with the situation. Then the group went on to the next station, and I signaled the second group to come on in.

The next station had a spotting scope set up for the staff person to use as bait to draw in visitors. He demonstrated how to do this and then gave a brief informal lesson on local geology.

The third station was located at a historic cabin. As the group approached, they encountered a staff person in period costume playing the role of a character from the time period the cabin represented.

Junior Rangers were the target for the fourth station. The designated “kids” were greeted and given a booklet and instructions on how to become a Junior Ranger. The staff person demonstrated how to use children to engage their parents.

Station five had a staff person holding cedar bark, which he used as a tool to talk with visitors about the trees in the forest. The group learned information as well as seeing the effectiveness of having something for visitors to handle.

The sixth station was located beside a bench. The staff person had laid out an attractive assortment of cultural artifacts and materials, and was working on making stone tools. He invited folks to come see what he was doing and used the display and demonstration as a means to engage visitors in thinking about the native people of the region. They could sit on the bench to watch him work.

As the groups crossed a small bridge over a wetland, a staff person was waiting at station seven to ask if they smelled anything unusual. Skunk cabbage was emerging, a great opportunity to demonstrate how to engage visitors through their own senses, as well as how to take advantage of a natural interpretive opportunity.

A person in the group was asked beforehand to help out with the last station. As the group approached the station, they saw a stuffed chipmunk perched on a railing. The shill in the group pretended to offer the chipmunk food, and the staff person lurking nearby demonstrated how to deliver the important message: “Please keep the wildlife wild!”

At the end of the walk, the group returned to a central meeting site and was led in a discussion about the walk. What had they learned? What techniques could they identify? What issues came up? What were the differences between interpretation, information, and educating visitors about park regulations?

One of the best side benefits of the exercise was the presence of actual visitors. The exercise took place on a popular trail at mid-day on a weekend, and lots of families were out enjoying the park. The trainees got to see staff really interacting with the public, not just role-playing for their benefit. Visitors got a richer experience, too.

Out of the entire training experience, this exercise was one of the most popular. It met the needs of the audience: they were outside, active, seeing the interpretive skills they were learning demonstrated by their supervisors and coworkers, and becoming familiar with the park. From a trainer’s perspective, it illustrated the points we wanted to emphasize and inspired participants to engage with the place and with the presenters at each station. And for everyone involved, it was fun.

Training should be as interpretive as the programs we want our staff to deliver. It should be engaging, meaningful, memorable, and relevant. It should inspire staff to connect with visitors and help them discover the magic of the place they are visiting. Too often, we lean on information alone and forget our own lessons. Look for creative ways to involve your staff in practicing interpretation during training. Show them, don’t just tell them, and you’ll see positive results over the course of the season.

Julia Pinnix is entering her 22nd year as an interpretive naturalist. Currently a seasonal lead ranger at Mount Rainier National Park, she has worked for the National Park Service, US Forest Service, private companies, and non-profit organizations.